Umbrella



Aug. 25, 1931. A, w sE 1,820,639

UMBRELLA Filed Dec. 50, 1927 M 12 INVENTOR 3 j, Alfred Wire,

zaxi BY 'ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 25, 1931 UNITED STATES ALFRED ,wEIsE. or new YORK, n. Y.

UMBRELLA Application filed December 30, 1927. Serial No. 243,585.

This invention relates to improvements in umbrellas, and more especially to an automatic collapsible umbrella, designed to be folded into a small package for convenience r. in carrying. It includes a means for automatically extending the umbrella to its operative or open'position, by the pulling out of the collapsible handle to, or near, its full length, and also of quickly and conven ently K folding the umbrella into a small'package,

and with minimum trouble on the part of the user.

All these and other objects, as suggested below, are attained in the devlce now to be described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the com- "pletely-folded umbrella, encased in its sack and all ready to be carried; Fig. 2, a sideelevational phantom view of the completelyextended umbrella, showing, in dotted lines, several positions of closing; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail view at the joint of one of the stays or ribs of the umbrella, showing how the springs operate to keep the stay entended as one piece, while yet permitting 1t to be folded together, when not in use; Fig. 4, an

. enlarged sectional view of the operating parts of the complete device; and Fig. 5, a

perspective view of the folded-up umbrella,

aflixed to the upper end of the collapsible handle part. 13.

A combined operating and'bra'cing member or stay 16-, is hingedly secured to each of the ribs 14, somewhat midway of its length, but preferably nearer its upper, or hinged, end. The opposite ends of these stays 16 are hingedly secured to a sliding runner member 17, whichjis adapted to slide up and down over the hollow handle section 13, as shown in Fig. 4.

Each rib 14 is broken midway of its length, the two parts being hingedly attached to opposite ends of a short c0nnecting link 18, as shown in Fig. 3. A small spiral spring 19 is secured to each of the extreme ends of link 18, their opposite ends being secured to one of the portions of rib 14. Thus'there are two springs to each rib, one for each of its parts, each connected outside of the hinge point between the rib member 14 and connecting link 18, and in such manner that these springs tend always to move the rib parts to a straight-line posi tion and to retain them in that position to make of each one continuous rib, which, however, can be folded against the'tension of its spring upwardly to half its normal length, when the umbrella is folded, ready to be carried closed.

A spiral spring 20 is positioned between the upper end of runner 17 and the bottom of member 15,-and so thatit can be compressed when runner 17 is forced upwardly to close the umbrella, and when again released, will have sufficient compression to force the umbrella ribs open, and automatically extend the umbrella for-immediate use.

Pivoted inside the hollow of handle section 13, as shown inFig. 4, is a resilient r- 21, terminates in an extension positioned downwardly through the hollow of section 13, and terminating in a cam projection 22, which extends out through a longitudinal slot in the handle section 12, which slides over the section 13. The end of this pro jecting member 22 is cam-shaped on its upper surface in such manner that when the handle is being extended by pulling out the sections, and section 12 has been almost completely pulled out through the end of section 13, member 22 finally engages the end of the slot in section 12, and the further movement of the latter depresses this member 22 and with it, the catch 21, to per mit the runner 17 to be automatically forced downwardly by the compression of spring 20, and so to open the umbrella. Thus the mere act of uneollapsing the handle sections, releases the catch to automatically unfold the umbrella.

The operation of the device is as follows:

hen the umbrella is removed. from its fabric cover or container, 23, Fig. 1, springs 19 of each of the ribs acts to automatically extend them and open each one to its full aligned length. The operator then grasps handle 10 with one hand, and runner 17 with the other, and pulls them apart. Handle sections 11, 12, and 13 are thus uncollapsed, and finally reach their extended full-length position, as shown in Fig. 2, and are there held as one unitary handle, by means of suitable spring holders, 24, Figs. 2 and 4;. During the latter part of this operation, projecting member 22 is cammed inside the end of the slot 26 in handle section 12, as explained, and thus automatically operates the catch or look 21, to force it inwardly, and permit runner 17 to slide downwardly by the action of spring 20 to open the umbrella, and to position the braces 16 to hold it in such extended or open position.

The umbrella is closed by releasing (as by pressing inwardly) the several spring catches 24 of the handle and collapsing these sections together, finally pressing the members in such manner that runner 17 is forced upwardly against the compression of spring 20 until its lowermost edge or shoulder passes above the spring catch 21 to permit the latter to spring outwardly to hold this runner in its upper or closed position. By this operation the braces 16 are forced upwardly to fold the ribs 14 together around the handle. Thereafter, each. of the ribs is folned upwardly against the tension of springs 19, by the operator forcing them, to divide their length and. completely fold up the umbrella, after which it is inserted in the container .43, to retain it in such completely folded position.

The fabric umbrella covering 25, Fig. 5, is sewed onto the ribs 141 in such mannathat the outer edges are held taut when the ribs are in full extended, or open, position, the tension of the fabric being suflicient to prevent the ribs from being collapsed upwardly when open, in the event of a sudden gust of wind, for instance.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not limited thereto. To those skilled in the art, many modifications of the invention will be readily apparent, and it will also be obvious to such skilled persons. that parts of the device may be used without other parts thereof, and steps in the method, without other steps,

many such combinations readily suggesting themselves. Therefore, it should be and is to be distinctly understood that for a definition of the limitations of the invention, reference must be had to the appended claims.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which Letters Patent of the United States is desired, is:

1. An umbrella rib having two parts, connected to a hinged connecting member, and adapted to be folded together only on one side from a position of alignment of said parts, said connecting member having extensions thereon beyond the hinge points of said connections, said extensions engaging the rib parts when in extended position, thereby preventing said parts from swinging beyond alignment from the aforesaid folded position, there being spring means between each part and the connecting member and secured to the connecting member at points outside of the connection points between said connecting member and said parts and adapted to normally retain the parts in alignment as one continuous rib.

2. A collapsible umbrella handle, includ ing a pair of tubular handle sections adapted to slide one within the. other, the outer section having a slot therein, spring-actuated locking means in the inner section, extending through said slot, and spring means mounted on said inner section to automatically open the umbrella, when the handle sections are extended to depress the locking means inwardly after it has passed the end of said slot.

3. In combination, a hollow handle section having a runner slidable thereover and a plurality of rib braces attached to said runner at one end, and to respective ribs at the other, spring locking means having a trip member connected therewith in said section for holding said runner in a pre-determined upper position, spring means for forcing the runner downwardly when said locking means is released, and a second handle section having a slot therein in which said trip member is adapted to be located sliding over the first section and adapted by its movement til to open position to move said trip member when sald trip member is engaged by the end of said slot to release said locking means.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a collapsible umbrella, a collapsible handle therefor, and spring means for automatically 1 opening the umbrella, said spring means being associated with tripping means and adapted to be tripped into operative position by the operation of extending the handle.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 17 day of December, A. D. 1927.

ALFRED WEISE. 

